"Ryu…."
Nina rested his head in her lap, her small hand absently stroking his sweat-matted hair. His body was whole and undamaged, renewed and revitalized, as if he had never taken a blow in his life. The dragon had gone as soon as it defeated Kuwadora.
As soon as it ripped it to shreds. As soon as it tore the demon apart with its claws and its teeth and its pure, vicious, animalistic fury. As soon as it burned the creature with its deadly flames, burning and charring, burning and consuming….The dragon had issued a roar, the cry of a child in the body of a beast. And then it went away. Scale melted into flesh, fang dulled, talons became nails. Ryu lay on the ground as bare as the day he was born. Nina cradled that vulnerable, shivering young man in her lap. She ran her delicate hand over his forehead, tried to still his murmuring and his trembling. He was feverish. He was dreaming.
Yua crawled over to them, looking at her brother in concern. "Is he all right?"
Nina nodded, still brushing Ryu's hair. "It must be a bad dream," she said softly.
Yua threw a cloak over her brother's nakedness. "Ryu-niisan…what just happened now? That thing…Nina, he turned into a dragon…." Her bat-like wings flexed meaningfully. "That demon said we had the blood of dragons in us."
"I don't know exactly what's going on, Yua. I don't have the answers." Nina touched her forehead against Ryu's. His skin was damp. It trembled in the throes of fever. She did not mind. "I don't have the answers," she repeated, "I can only do this for him. Yua—let's get out of here. Where's Katt?"
The thief went to the Woren, who was struggling to stay awake. She had a concussion. Yua gently helped her to her feet. "Easy, Katt," the thief said. "I know we don't like each other right now, but we're going to have to work together here. So come on, buck up."
Katt's head lolled groggily, but she managed to say with some degree of steadiness and sarcasm, "It's not that I don't like you, it's just that I can't stand kids."
Yua grinned at that. "I forgive you, too," she said snidely.
"I can stand," said the Woren, finally regaining her balance and strength. "Nina, let me carry Ryu; he's heavier. You and Yua grab Sten."
The three women carried their scarred friends out of the darkness.
One week later….
Sten took a drink from a tall bottle of bourbon as he regarded the scar through the mirror. An ugly round scar the size of an apple dominated the area where his left ear used to be. The empty space was all red-brown scab, a distinctive crater surrounded by a meadow of long brown hair. There would be no mistaking or hiding his injury.
At least that's tha' worst o' me wounds, he thought with the dispassion of a soldier who was used to battle scars of all sorts. I was just lucky to have lived this long without a serious injury. It could have been worse, he told himself. Ryu went through more than I did.
Still, Sten could not help but harbor a degree of bitterness over having his body so garishly defaced. Frankly, he was glad Kuwadora was lying in little burnt pieces on an unremarkable dungeon floor.
The Highlander sighed, took a drink, and made a quick check of his less noticeable injuries. Bandages around his wrists and ankles covered the slash marks from the rusty shackles; patches soothed the holes and cuts all over his torso; a cloth served to hold his cracked jaw in place. Ryu definitely got off worse.
He walked across to the window of his room, taking the bottle with him. The roadside inn was several leagues out of Simafort. He was glad for that; that land held far too many bad memories now. Like Goonheim, Sten wanted to run from it.
He looked out the window. Out in the back lawn, Ryu was practicing with his sword; Prince Jean, restored to the throne, had returned it along with his undying gratitude. The ranger had grown more laconic since Kuwadora. All he seemed concerned about was getting stronger. Today, he weighted his sword with several short, but heavy, logs. It was easily thirty pounds of extra weight. But he swung the weapon gracefully with only a single hand.
He trains so hard, Sten thought. Is he trying to forget what happened in tha' dungeon? He's definitely someone who'd try to drown himself in work. Idiot. If yer going to run away, then run away.
Of course, the Highlander was not blind; he knew perfectly well what kept Ryu around. She had blue hair and soft blue eyes. He trains for her and only her. She's his whole bloody world, never mind tha' two turning ankles at him.
Sten took another drink. It tasted flat to him.
There was a knock on his door. Nina came in, her expression saddened. "How are you feeling?" She looked at his scar and then quickly looked away; it must have been too repulsive for her.
Sten felt a bit hurt, but he was not some fool who cared overmuch about his looks; he already expected that kind of reaction from people. "Well enough. I'm alive," he said, pulling up a chair for her. She sat down. "What can I do for ye, lass? 'Tisn't like ye to be visiting an old scruff like me when yer beau's unattended." Nina blushed.
The Windian played with the skirt of her dress absently, gathering her thoughts. "It's actually him I'm worried about. You heard the gory details from Yua?"
"Aye. Hard to believe that he's one o' the ancient dragons. As a lad, me mother used to tell me stories about how tha' dragons had tha' power to destroy tha' world. Some tried to use that power for good. But far too many o' them used it for evil. Makes ye wonder how he's going to use it."
Nina turned on him sharply, anger in her eyes. "How can you question it?" she barked. "Of course he'll use it for good! This is Ryu we're talking about. How can you say something like that, Sten?"
"Because, lass, good and evil aren't as cut and dry as ye think. Sure, there some blokes out there like Kuwadora, who deserve to have their black hearts cut out." Sten could not suppress the bitterness as he said the vile name. But he pressed on. "But there are far more who're like ye and me. We think we're doing some good, but all we're doing is making things worse."
He jerked a thumb to the window. "Ryu's outside now. Training, getting stronger. He wants to do that so he can protect people. But he tried to protect Jean, tried to save him." He traced the scar on his face. "I ended up getting maimed because he tried to do some good." Again, there was bitterness; this he expected, as well. Sten was not blind; he knew that in his heart of hearts, he blamed Ryu for what happened.
"Sten…."
"Let me finish. My mother told me stories about dragons. She also told me what it meant to be one. Disaster was a dragon's offspring, she said. Where a dragon walked, misfortune followed. That's what it means to carry tha' blood in Ryu's veins, girl."
Her gaze lowered sadly. "How…how can you say that? He's our friend…we should help him. It doesn't have to be that way."
"Remember what happened in tha' dungeon?" Sten said sharply. "He almost killed ye."
"You were conscious?" Nina was surprised.
"Barely. He almost killed ye," Sten repeated. "Tragedy always follows a dragon. It is tha' way o' things."
Nina thought back to that fearful moment when Ryu had turned into a wyrm and went on a rampage. The terror she felt—she had been afraid of Ryu. He had been so terrible, so vicious. How could she not have been afraid? And this power was inside him, a part of him, as integral to who he was as his hair was blue.
Ryu…why? Why you of all people?Terror. Of Ryu.
Nina looked upon the shattered remains of Kuwadora. The dragon loomed above, a marvelous and beautiful and horrible sight. "Ryu!" Nina cried, but the beast did not seem to hear her. If it could understand moral tongues, then it did not know who she was. It did not know the name Ryu.
But still she tried to reach out to it. "Ryu! Ryu!" Its eyes were like jade, filled with golden fire and madness. Confusion, anger, rage incarnate—that was what swam within that emerald sea. "Ryu! Ryu!" It did not recognize the name.
The great beast lumbered toward her, overtaken by bloodlust. It meant to slay her. Nina stood there, frozen stiff with fear. Fear of Ryu. But she would not let the fear control her. "Ryu," she whispered pleadingly, even as the dragon's breathed its moist, hot breath at her. She could smell limestone and ash. "Ryu, I know you're in there somewhere. Please, please come back."
The dragon blinked. Something else flittered across the jade eyes. It disappeared like a leaf on the wind. The dragon opened its jaws. Nina resigned herself to death. "I won't fight you, Ryu. Not you of all people. I…won't blame you. I know you're not yourself."
The dragon's teeth were frighteningly white; she could see her reflection in the glossy bone. She could see her own fear in that reflection, and her own resolve. "I won't fight you, Ryu."
The dragon's fangs stopped short. It closed its mouth. Its great lips moved, as if trying to form a human word…but only a low growl sounded. Nina stretched out a shaking hand and gently stroked the scaled muzzle. "Ryu?" she asked softly. The beast issued a rumble from deep within its throat. She smiled. "It is you, Ryu. You…remember." Nina rested her forehead against the massive snout, tears welling in her eyes. "Come back, Ryu. Please."
Nina remembered that moment clearly. And it firmed her belief. "You're wrong, Sten. It doesn't have to be the way of things. Ryu was fighting back the whole time. You said you were conscious. You saw me reach him. Things can be different." She sounded so confident, her belief adamant.
But Sten was still unconvinced.
Ryu's muscles were aching when he returned to the cool interior of the inn. He went to the public wash, picked up a bucket, filled it with well water, and dumped it over his head. Then he did it again. He felt Katt's eyes watching his bare back.
"Is something wrong, Katt?" he asked, dunking his head in the water one last time before facing her.
The Woren's eyes were distant, thoughtful—very unlike the fiery, passionate girl he knew. She approached him silently, cautiously, as if afraid he was going to move away from her. Admittedly, he did want to back away from her touch. He did not trust himself anymore. He almost killed Nina; how easily could he do the same to Katt? But there was an intensity, a yearning in her eyes that made him stand his ground.
She gently caressed his face. Tears ran down her cheeks and she started to sob uncontrollably. Then she buried her face in his chest and clutched at his shirt, not wanting to let go.
"Katt…."
"Don't say anything. Just don't. L-let me stay here with you, all right? I-I don't want you to d-disappear again."
He tried to stroke her red hair soothingly. But his touch was uncertain; he was not accustomed to things like this. "I'm not going anywhere," he said lamely. "I never went anywhere."
"Yes you did," she accused. "You disappeared and that…thing…took your place. It was you but it wasn't you. I can't accept that other thing, Ryu. I can't…love it. It's too…too much. It isn't you. It's something else."
"I can't change what I am," he said quietly, "no matter how much I want to. I'm a Dragon, Katt. Tragedy follows me everywhere I go. It's…I guess you could call it fate."
She pounded him on the chest; her small fists belied her great strength—it hurt. "No! Don't ever accept something like that, Ryu! You've always been wandering around, completely free. Fate isn't something that controls you. I've never seen you act like someone who believes in that garbage. Don't believe in it now. You can always do whatever the hell you want!"
He took her hands by the wrists and pulled them down to her sides; he embraced her and tilted his chin into her hair. Katt felt his tears drop onto her scalp. "That's where you're wrong," he murmured for her ears alone, "I've never been free. I have the moment…and the past. But they are just cages.
"All this time, these past ten years…I've been chained to what happened to me as a child. I've been controlled by it. Yua's back, but I'm still haunted by what happened so long ago. All I've done from then to now is stay in it. Nothing seemed real to me. I was stuck in the past.
"My past has chained me. And so has the moment. I am a Dragon, Katt. I have cursed blood in my veins. That alone is a cage from which I can't escape. I've never been free."
He tilted her head up with a finger. "Do you understand?"
She shook her head furiously. "Not everything; I don't get all of it. But I'm positive that you're wrong. I'll help you be free. I'll help you realize it. Let me. I couldn't…bring you back last time. Nina did that. But let me help you this time. You won't ever be haunted by your past or by being a Dragon ever again."
And then suddenly, impulsively, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss.
When they broke for air, Ryu seemed dumbfounded. Katt only added to his confusion by kissing him again.
"I'm not too good with girls," he said at last, though the statement sounded strange and hollow against the reality of the kiss.
Katt rested her forehead against his chest and said softly, "You're good enough."
Yua watched her brother and the Woren from the window of her room. When they kissed, she felt a momentary pang of jealousy. She loves him, the thief reminded herself sternly. She isn't trying to take him away from you or anything. She's just showing him how she feels.
I wonder if Ryu-niisan loves her back? I wonder if he loves Nina-neesan? That baka needs to tell them how he feels. Especially since…since he's the way he is. Yes, now more than ever, it's important for him to be clear about his feelings.
There was a knock on her door. "Come in," she invited. Nina stepped in; the Windian smiled quietly, but warmly. Yua grinned in welcome. "Nina-neesan! Come in, come in."
"Yua-chan," Nina said nervously, "I wanted to talk to you about your brother."
Yua quickly shut the window curtains. But it was too late; Nina already saw. There was hurt in the Windian's eyes, a sense of betrayal, but then happiness and encouragement. She was genuinely glad that Ryu and Katt had gotten closer, even though she and the Woren were declared rivals.
"Yua-chan," Nina said again, "did you know about Ryu's ability to turn into a dragon? Do you know about the Dragon Clan's curse?"
The thief sat down on the bed; the Windian joined her. Yua toyed with her ponytail absently before answering. "I don't know much about either…but okasan used to talk about it sometimes. She only told me, not Ryu-niisan, though. She said I was going to be a Maiden like her or something. I don't remember exactly; it was a long time ago."
She stared at the ceiling, her mind walking down the road of memory. Her expression became distant and thoughtful, lost in the past. "Okasan told me stories about how men could transform into Dragons and how some used their power to help while others used them to hurt. But no matter your intent, a Dragon would bring nothing but misery because of their power. That was the way of things, she would always say. Because I was very little, I didn't really understand it until now."
"So you don't think that your brother can do anything except bring misery?" Nina asked quietly.
Yua grabbed Nina's wrist and locked gazes with her. "Answer me this," she said with intensity, "do you love my brother? With all your heart and soul?"
The Windian was taken aback. "I-I already…you and I…we…we already talked about that."
"Answer me. Do you? Would you do anything for him?"
Against that impassioned gaze, Nina could only reply her deepest desires: "Yes. I do." And she believed it to be true. "Yes, I do," she said again, more firmly and with more confidence. "I'd do anything for Ryu."
Yua released her and sat back. "Then save him from himself. I think you and Katt are the only ones who can. You brought him back, Nina. I can't; I'm just his sister. But you and Katt…you can be more to him than that. Please be there for him."
Nina nodded. "I…I will."